Senate attached bailout plan to Paul Wellstone Mental Health/Addiction Equity Act of 2007

[seafan]

When it comes to cynicism, I can't keep up.



Senate package would bail out major foreign investors, including China

World Tribune
October 2, 2008

The following is based on an article by Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid.

During a time when most pundits and analysts had come to favor the financial bailout package, Rep. Brad Sherman of California was on Larry Kudlow’s CNBC show on Sept. 30 to cite evidence that the legislation potentially “provides hundreds of billions of dollars of bailouts to foreign investors,” including those in Communist China.

In another strange twist, in order to get around the constitutional requirement that revenue raising bills must originate in the House, the Senate attached the plan to a House bill, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007.
The bailout plan, now termed "rescue plan", passed 74-25 with one senator (the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy) not voting. Of the 25 opponents, 15 were Republicans. Presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both voted for it.

The provision referred to by Sherman is Section 112, “Coordination With Foreign Authorities and Central banks,” which “Requires the Secretary to coordinate with foreign authorities and central banks to establish programs similar to TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
The foreign bank bailout provision alarmed Sen. Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, who said, “The plan permits taxpayer dollars to be used to buy assets of foreign financial institutions that have a presence in the United States. If U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to be put at risk, those dollars should be used to shore up U.S. based companies.”
Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina alluded to this as well, saying in opposition that “It bails out foreign investors before American homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.”

“It’s very clear,” Sherman explained on CNBC. “The Bank of Shanghai can transfer all of its toxic assets to the Bank of Shanghai of Los Angeles, its subsidiary, which can then sell them the next day to the Treasury. I had a provision to say if it wasn’t owned by an American entity, even a subsidiary, but at least an entity here in the U.S., the Treasury can’t buy it. That was rejected. The foreign markets are being told they’re getting the money.”

.....

In a Sunday morning September 21 exclusive report, Mike Allen of Politico had broken the story, reporting, “In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night.” That day, appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, Paulson confirmed the change, saying, “If a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution.”

Asked if the bill was socialism, he admitted it was “big government intervention” in the economy.

.....

It is Sherman who is working hard to get other Democratic votes against the bill. Sherman’s number one concern, reported USA Today, “is that the bill would allow foreign banks to transfer toxic assets to their U.S. subsidiaries and unload them on American taxpayers. The bailout at first only applied to U.S. banks but was expanded to include foreign banks with U.S. operations.”

“Under the Bill,” Sherman explained in an October 1 release from his office, “the Administration can buy any asset from any financial institution for any price. Some think that only U.S. investors will be bailed out. Major foreign investors have already been assured that they can benefit from the bailout. Under the Bill, the Bank of China can sell a portfolio of toxic assets to a U.S.-headquartered investment bank on Monday, and that investment bank can then sell those same assets to the Treasury on Tuesday. The foreign financial press indicates that foreign investors are sure that they will get at least tens of billions of dollars.”

.....

Our Senate is infested with blind, contemptuous fools.

[anigbrowl]

1. You mean, far-right wing Cliff Kincaid?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200512100001

You got trolled.

[seafan]

2. Confirmed at American Prospect: Senate Bailout attached to House Wellstone bill

Link

In one of those odd moments where congressional procedure delivers a roundhouse punch to common sense, the Senate Bankruptcy Bill will actually be...The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007. Here's why: Tax bills have to originate in the House of Representatives. But the current thinking is that the Senate should pass a bailout bill to increase pressure on the House. So they needed to find some piece of legislation that had already passed the House but had not yet passed the Senate. Hence the mental health parity bill, named in honor of Paul Wellstone, who made mental health issues a major cause during his time in the Senate. What they'll do now is basically add the whole bailout bill to the text of the Wellstone bill. As Justin Fox says, "because, you know, Paul Wellstone would totally have been in favor of bailing out Wall Street."

It is a bit ironic. Though Wellstone would not have been serene about the damage the possible damage if the bill did not go through. It's really pretty hard to say where he would've come down, or what he would've forced into the final legislation. It's a sad shame that we'll never know.

The truth is, indeed, painful.

[anigbrowl]

4. That fact doesn't alter my point

Yeah, I saw it was attached to that bill because it's the first thing you see when you bring up the text. It's not that unusual to attach legislation in this way for procedural reasons, since it takes a lot of time to bring a bill to the floor otherwise.

What I'm questioning is why you're promoting articles by far-right wing Cliff Kincaid. Just because he makes a factual observation which pushes the buttons of some democrats doesn't make his subsequent arguments any more correct. I still say you got trolled - you fell for the trivial shiny thing (Wellstone's name) and now you're recycling a right-wing pundit's argument for him here on DU. Wise up.

[seafan]

5. Not "promoting" anything but the facts.

The quotes from the World Tribune in the OP stand, from Rep. Brad Sherman, Sen. Pat Roberts, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Mike Allen of Politico, Paulson, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senator Jim Bunning, Sen. Tom Coburn, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, in addition to the information of how the Senators voted and the implications of the bailout language. The facts are there to be digested.


As for Paul Wellstone being "a trivial shiny thing", we all lost an American patriot with a heart of gold on that tragic day in October, 2002. And our world is much worse off for it, today. Your statement was very offensive.



Distraction noted.

[Love Bug]

3. Oh. My. God.

Wellstone would be PISSED.

[myrna minx]

6. You've got that right Love Bug. What a disgrace to our honorable Senator and his legacy.

:grr:

[Love Bug]

7. It's disgusting his legislation wasn't passed years ago but

to use it like this? It boggles the mind.